Anti-Catholicism on the Net

You will know the truth,
and the truth will make you free!

Cognoscetis veritatem et veritas liberabit vos!

What is anti-Catholicism?

This page is devoted to identifying
anti-Catholicism on the Web. Anti-Catholicism (like anti-Semitism in some
ways) is not easy to define. I am often tempted to apply the "definition" of
pornography advanced by Justice Stewart of the United States Supreme Court:
"I can't define it, but I know it when I see it."

My definition is drawn from the
history of anti-Catholicism in America: I believe that modern anti-Catholicism
continues (with some interesting variations) the religious themes of the
Protestant Reformation and the secular (anti-clerical) themes of the Enlightenment
and post-Enlightenment periods. In the United States these two strands became
intertwined in nineteenth century Nativism, and they have continued (though
attenuated) up to the present. Their presence on the Web simply reflects
the fact that all kinds of ideas (mainstream and marginal) are now disseminated
in this way.

Anti-Catholic themes may be loosely categorized as follows:

attacking Catholicism as being un-Christian or a cult (in the
pejorative and not the sociological sense);

ridiculing or misinterpreting Catholic doctrine
or practice;

ascribing to the Catholic Church a sinister role in an anti-Christian or
anti-American conspiracy;

distorting or
taking out of context illegal or scandalous behavior (especially
sexual misconduct) by Catholic clergy or laity.

I label a web-site as anti-Catholic if it falls into one or more of the above
categories. Obviously, there are some gray areas: How to distinguish between
anti-Catholicism and legitimate differences with the Catholic Church? Further,
given the ever widening sexual scandal which has engulfed the Catholic Church
in the past few years, a great deal of material has appeared on the Net which
is highly critical of the Catholic Church but which cannot be considered anti-Catholic.
How to decide when a site crosses the line? These are difficult questions and
I have indicated any site about which I have doubts. I am always willing to
discuss this question with anyone who disagrees with me. Surprisingly, only
one person has ever challenged my description of his site as anti-Catholic; even
more surprisingly, a number of webmasters have written and asked that their sites
be linked. (One correspondant asked if his site was not "anti-Catholic enough"
to be included.)

Over the years, a number of people
have urged me to label as anti-Catholic any site containing the views of
Catholics who are dissenting from the teachings of the Church hierarchy.
(Most of these are liberal, but there are a few conservative ones. Examples
of such sites can be found by searching for "liberal catholic"
and "anti-catholic" on any search engine.) I have refused and will
continue to do so. My goal is to document the continuing presence on the Net
of one of the oldest prejudices in America, and I do not want to be sidetracked
by the internecine wars within Catholicism.

When I first created this site (roughly 10 years ago), my goal was to be comprehensive
and provide a link to every anti-Catholic site on the web. Up to the last revision
in 2000 this was possible (barely). However, in recent years the number of
such sites has grown exponentially and I am no longer able to link to them
all. In this most recent revision my goal is to update all the links and add
some of the many links which have been sent to me in the past four years. I
welcome all suggestions for new links, even if I am not able to add every one
which is sent to me.

On August 13, 2004, I completed
a major overhaul of this site, the first since August, 2000. In the future
I hope to make more frequent updates.

On August 24, 2005, I completed
a minor update. I hope to add a large collection of links which were sent
to me by a reader in the near future.

Finally, a personal note: I am
a Roman Catholic and a lay Franciscan brother. My views are not easily categorized
as either "liberal" or "conservative" since
I hold strong views in both directions. (Some indication of this can be seen
by the links on my personal home-page.) I became interested in anti-Catholicism
in America when I was in college and I found a copy of Keith Green's The
Catholic Chronicles outside a Catholic Church. This web site was a natural
outgrowth.

An extensive collection of
anti-Catholic web-sites maintained by various Protestant groups. Many
are devoted to "saving" Catholics. Also of interest
are the attacks on fellow Protestants who are perceived as being "soft" on
Catholics.

A smaller collection of secular anti-Catholic web-sites. Many of these
are not specifically anti-Catholic: rather, this is one facet of a more
general anti-Christian stance. Never-the-less, many of the themes of historical
anti-Catholicism appear in them.

Sites which document the history of anti-Catholicism, primarily in the
United States but also in England. This also contains links to electronic
versions of classical anti-Catholic works. (Many of these are being republished
by groups identified above.)

Catholic individuals and organizations (most quite
conservative) which are responding vigorously to the dissemination of
anti-Catholic material by presenting both specific responses and
general Catholic apologetics. This has resulted in a curiously
isolated debate between these two camps.

Links to material about controversial subjects (e.g.
abortion) in which either anti-Catholic references appear or charges
of anti-Catholicism are made. Many of these are ephemeral and I
suspect that these links will change frequently.

I strongly encourage questions, comments and discussion on this topic.